The High Court has proposed setting aside a decision that Ryanair was the employer of pilot Paul Clements for social insurance purposes between February 2010 and April 2014, finding that the Appeals Officer’s conclusion relied on inferences no reasonable decision-maker could draw.
Mr Justice Conleth Bradley’s judgment, delivered on 26 November 2024, concerned a statutory appeal on questions of law by Ryanair DAC. The court extended the time for the appeal and found that the Appeals Officer’s revised decision of 12 July 2021 was based on an incorrect interpretation of documents and an erroneous view of the law.
The 2021 decision had revised an earlier determination and concluded that Mr Clements was employed by Ryanair, with PRSI Class A applying if his reckonable earnings were at least €38 a week, and Class J if they were below that threshold. The Chief Appeals Officer declined to revise that decision in December 2022. That refusal left the Appeals Officer’s decision in force unless the High Court set it aside.
The judgment recounts that Mr Clements had been a director and shareholder of Redsberry Management Services Limited. Redsberry contracted with Brookfield Aviation International Limited, which supplied pilots to Ryanair. The 2021 Appeals Officer inferred that Brookfield acted for Ryanair in its dealings with Mr Clements and that an implied employment contract arose from his application, assessment and later arrangements to fly for the airline.
Justice Bradley held that the evidence did not support those inferences. He said the cadet assessment served a type-rating and regulatory purpose, rather than amounting to an offer of employment. The written arrangements described Redsberry providing Mr Clements’s services to Brookfield, which in turn supplied a pool of pilots to Ryanair. The court also considered the regulatory setting for scheduled flights, including the requirements affecting rosters, pilot qualifications and substitutions.
Applying the Supreme Court’s approach in Karshan, the judge concluded that the arrangements did not establish a contract of service between Ryanair and Mr Clements. He set out that the proposed order would set aside the Appeals Officer’s 2021 decision on the basis that Ryanair was not Mr Clements’s employer for the relevant social welfare classification.
The judgment did not record a final perfected order. The judge said he would hear further from the parties on the precise terms, any consequential declarations and costs. Further submissions were due by 24 January 2025, with the matter listed for 29 January 2025.